Quick VRT Imagery Loader

A QGIS plugin designed for searching and loading satellite imagery via multiple STAC APIs. This tool optimizes the remote sensing workflow by providing pre-configured band compositions and loading imagery directly as Virtual Rasters (VRT).

Supported STAC providers and collections:

• Microsoft Planetary Computer: Sentinel-2 L2A, Landsat Collection 2 Level-2
• Element84 Earth Search (AWS): Sentinel-2 L2A — a free, unsigned alternative source, handy when Planetary Computer is unavailable
• INPE / Brazil Data Cube: CBERS-4/4A MUX, CBERS-4/4A WFI, CBERS-4A WPM (multispectral + panchromatic), CBERS-4A WPM Pansharpened True Color, CBERS-4 PAN10M, CBERS-4 PAN5M panchromatic

Each collection ships with its own set of pre-configured compositions (True Color, False Color Infrared, Agriculture, Geology, Urban, Bathymetric, Panchromatic, NDVI/NDWI/NDMI/EVI, and more where the sensor's bands support them).

Developed with Python and the QGIS Plugin Builder tool.

Installation

Via QGIS Plugin Manager (recommended)

1. Open QGIS and go to Plugins > Manage and Install Plugins
2. Click "All", then search for Quick VRT Imagery Loader
3. Click Install Plugin

Via ZIP file

Download the .zip file from this repository (under "releases") and use the Install from ZIP option in the QGIS Plugin Manager, or extract the folder manually into your QGIS plugins directory:

• Windows: %AppData%\Roaming\QGIS\QGIS4\profiles\default\python\plugins
• Linux: ~/.local/share/QGIS/QGIS4/profiles/default/python/plugins
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/QGIS/QGIS4/profiles/default/python/plugins

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Dependencies

The plugin requires the following Python libraries:

• pystac-client
• planetary-computer
• shapely

On first use, the plugin will attempt to install any missing dependencies automatically. Manual installation should not be necessary, but if needed:

Windows (via OSGeo4W Shell)

Open the OSGeo4W Shell as Administrator and run:

python3 -m pip install pystac-client planetary-computer shapely

Linux (via Terminal)

pip install pystac-client planetary-computer shapely

macOS (via Terminal)

Use the Python bundled inside QGIS, not the system python3 — the system interpreter is a different version and installs into a directory QGIS never reads, so the packages would appear to install and still be missing:

/Applications/QGIS.app/Contents/MacOS/python -m pip install --user pystac-client planetary-computer shapely

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Plugin page

This plugin is available on the QGIS official plugin repository:

https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/sentinel_stac_loader/

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License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2